As I write this, the American ”constitutional crisis”, as that is the name the American press has assigned it, continues to intensify.
The stock market continues to ”plunge”.
The Secretary of Defence is resigning.
The White House Chief of Staff has been fired.
A federal judge has asked a prosecutor the reason that a defendant, Michael Flynn, an individual who was formerly decorated as an army general and was a close adviser of Trump, has not been charged with treason.
The ”Special Presidential Envoy for Global Coalition to Defeat Isis” has resigned. Believe it or not, that is actually a title of a bureaucrat within the Trump administration.
The former personal lawyer of Trump, Michael Cohen, who was also an unofficial hatchet man for his client, was recently sentenced to three years in prison for crimes which Trump does not consider to be crimes. Clearly Trump knows more about the law than the lawyers and the judges. Perhaps anyone who doubts that should merely ask Trump. That man is the undisputed expert on almost anything. Just ask him. He will tell you.
This is in addition to the seventeen separate investigations of Trump and all of his businesses. Not the least of these investigations is that of the Special Prosecutor, the so called Mueller Probe. It is very likely that the older children of Trump will soon face various criminal charges. As Trump is currently the head of state, he may be immune from prosecution. Or not.
On December 21, on the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year, the American government was faced with a partial government shut down. One of the capitalists, one of the few capitalists to still maintain a sense of humour, quipped that it was a dark day for the country.
As far as the government shutdown is concerned, it was only a few days ago that Trump bragged that he would be proud to take credit for such a shutdown. Since that time, he has come to his senses and reverted to his usual stance of blaming others for his stupidity. In this case, it is all the fault of the Democrats. The woes of the stock market he blames on the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, who has dared to raise interest rates, against the ”advice” of Trump. Perhaps he too should really be ashamed of himself. He has the audacity to think that he knows more about the economy than Trump. How dare him! Perhaps Trump should fire the Chairman of the Fed.
The fact that firing the Chairman of the Fed could well prove to be illegal does not impress Trump.
As for the current shutdown, the current bone of contention is the ”Wall”, which Trump swore would be paid for by Mexico. It should come as no great surprise to anyone that Mexico has other ideas. So now Trump has indeed taken action. He has decided to change the name, from that of ”wall” to that of ”Steel Slats Barrier”. He actually thinks that this will be a thing of beauty.
Truly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, Trumps idea of beauty leaves a bit to be desired.
That particular name change has failed to impress the members of the House of Representatives, or the Senate. They have refused to give Trump the five billion dollars he is requesting, as a down payment on the ”steel slats barrier”, so he in turn is throwing a ”hissy fit”, as the press reports it, and shutting down a good part of the government. This means that several hundred thousand government workers are out of a job. Roughly half of them are simply out of work entirely, while the other half are expected to work without pay. They are being told that after the shutdown is over, then they can expect to get paid.
This calls for a huge leap of faith on the part of government workers, those who are called upon to trust the president, as he has consistently lied in the past.
It is noteworthy that some of the government workers who are expected to work without pay include the members of the Secret Service, none other than the personal body guard of the president. These people are, without doubt, highly trained, professional, dedicated members of the law enforcement community. Each and every one of them is prepared to lay down their lives in the performance of their duties. Their integrity is not to be questioned. All are prepared to stop a bullet for the president, if called upon to do so. That is a fact.
It is also a fact that they are all working people, men and women who have responsibilities, bills to pay, families to feed. Now they are being asked – better yet demanded – to protect a man, a billionaire, whom has never suffered from want, never known the pain of trying to make ends meet. Yet this same billionaire is the man who is effectively placing a hold on their paycheques, completely unconcerned with their financial state. It is to be expected that their enthusiasm for the job may be on the decline. In fact, when the revolution breaks out, those same people, the members of the Secret Service, the personal body guard of the president, may well join the revolutionary forces. We must be prepared to welcome them into our ranks.
The press is reporting that this government shut down could be rather lengthy, as a new crop of politicians are to take office in January. As the majority of the House members will then be Democrats, this seems to be a rather reasonable assumption.
All of these little difficulties, among others, are acceptable to the capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, the class of people who are currently running the country. This is not a threat to their rule. It is merely inconvenient, and they can live with this.
The latest stunt Trump pulled is not acceptable. He had the audacity to order American troops out of Syria, effective immediately. He also ordered plans to be drawn up to pull half the troops out of Afghanistan. As Trump is president, and the president is commander in chief of all the American armed forces, that is his right.
This is absolutely not acceptable to the bourgeoisie.
This requires a little explanation. The fact is that we live under monopoly capitalism, which is to say capitalism in its highest, most rotten stage. This is scientifically referred to as imperialism, and the people in charge of these countries are referred to as imperialists.
Imperialism has characteristics which are different from pre-monopoly capitalism. Lenin goes into this in detail in his book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. He explains that imperialism is ”reaction, right down the line.” That is a book which I highly recommend to all, as it explains so much of that which is happening.
The American imperialists are squabbling with the imperialists of other countries, most notably Russia – although certainly not exclusively Russia – for control of part of the world, that which is referred to as the Middle East. They are prepared to sacrifice countless American soldiers in their pursuit of ever more territory and profit. This butchery of workers in uniform is a matter of complete indifference to them.
As explained in a previous article, the American imperialists have already decided to remove Trump from office, ”one way or another”. His order to pull troops out of Syria has merely made the removal more urgent. As they see it, the time to act is now, before the order can be carried through. Besides, it is the holiday season, people are focused on celebrating the holidays, relaxing with their families, not to mention getting drunk on New Years Eve. What better time for a military take over? Trump can be arrested, martial law can be declared, the with drawl from Syria can be cancelled, and the wars can continue.
In the event of such a coup, the working people will be placed in the position of supporting their democratically elected president, in this case Trump, of rescuing him from the military, holidays and martial law be damned. In short, civil war. That is the very pinnacle of irony!
In such a civil war, we can expect an alliance of people from all sides of the political spectrum. This is to say left leaning people, Marxists, socialists and anarchists, feminists, those with a democratic sense and those who think this is just the right thing to do, can be expected to rebel. As well, right wing people can be expected to rise, to challenge the military coup. The most ardent supporters of Trump, Klansmen and members of the NRA, the most backward male chauvinists, can be expected to unite to oppose this military coup.
This is called revolution, and remarkably enough, a military coup could be the spark which sets off the revolution.
It is characteristic of a revolution that people come together, stand shoulder to shoulder, even though such people do not normally associate. They unite against a common enemy.
As for those who swore they would never lift a finger to help Trump, may I remind you that after the revolution, after we establish a socialist republic, after we establish the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat, there will be time to force him to answer for his crimes.
But first we have to establish a socialist republic, and that means forming temporary alliances with people, with whom we may have deep differences. Compromises are required, and this is correct, as long as we do not violate principle. We must not allow personal feelings to influence our actions.
No one ever said that revolution is easy. Let the signs and banners read:
Scientific Socialism
Workers of the World, Unite!
Dictatorship of the Proletariat!
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 